Arkansas, 1 of 5 States Without Hate Speech Laws, Set To Legislate After Unite The Right

The events of Charlottesville and the high screeching cries of the left and media onslaught daily in the press are now causing a shift in policy in states that didn't have hate speech laws on the books.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Arkansas?src=hash">#Arkansas</a> is one of just five states (AR, GA, IN, SC, WY) with no hate crime law.<br><br>We tried to pass one this year. We got beat. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ARpx?src=hash">#ARpx</a> (1/2)</p>&mdash; Greg Leding (@gregleding) <a href="https://twitter.com/gregleding/status/896826207446212608">August 13, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Arkansas, one of five states which didn't have any legislation in place on hate speech, is now set to discuss the implementation of their own legislation to counter what it describes as “hate speech”.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A white supremacist rally in Virginia turned deadly, raising questions about why Arkansas has no hate crime laws. <br>-<a href="https://t.co/YgEVHFXaO4">https://t.co/YgEVHFXaO4</a> <a href="https://t.co/5veZLxxr2T">pic.twitter.com/5veZLxxr2T</a></p>&mdash; KNWA News (@KNWAnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/KNWAnews/status/897306882041405442">August 15, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Currently, there are no laws imposing harsher penalties for crimes committed because of a victim's race, religion, or sexual orientation across the state, but local lawmakers intend to change that narrative after what they say they witnessed in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"I think the fact that Arkansas currently sits among the states with the most active hate groups per capita in the country and given our state's history, we should do everything in our power to make it clear that hate has no place within our state's borders," says State Representative Greg Leding.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hate should have no place in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Arkansas?src=hash">#Arkansas</a>—and yet we’re one of just five states with no hate crime law. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ARnews?src=hash">#ARnews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ARpx?src=hash">#ARpx</a> <a href="https://t.co/sLfrEYgJnc">https://t.co/sLfrEYgJnc</a></p>&mdash; Greg Leding (@gregleding) <a href="https://twitter.com/gregleding/status/897280005364908032">August 15, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Leding hails from the 86th district in the State House, earlier this year introduced a bill in the House in March that would have made hate crimes a separate offense on top of the original charge, but the bill died in committee.

There are however some who disagree such legislation should be in place in Arkansas, suggesting that the crimes should be based on the actions and not the targets.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Arkansas Remains 1 of 5 States without Hate Crime Laws <a href="https://t.co/P9RX0AElRj">https://t.co/P9RX0AElRj</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ARNews?src=hash">#ARNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/PCat68YzE0">pic.twitter.com/PCat68YzE0</a></p>&mdash; FOX16 News (@FOX16News) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX16News/status/897244983194820609">August 14, 2017</a></blockquote>

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"If you start defining different punishments based on who is the victim instead of what is the crime, then I worry we start saying, individual A is less important than individual B," says State Representative Charlie Collins of the 84th district.

"When somebody's targeted of a hate crime, that entire community that they're in whether they're black, white, Catholic, Jewish whatever, feels terrorized and that terror can create tension between that community and other communities so hate crime laws are really about being anti-terror," Leding argues.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Arkansas is currently home to sixteen active hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan which has its headquarters in Harrison, Arkansas.

David Branscrum represents some of Harrison. He says the KKK's presence does not define the city or its values and shouldn't set the tone for the people who live there.

In states which currently hold hate crime laws, any defendants convicted of a hate crime face additional sentences on top of the original sentence, which allegedly creates a reduction in the future events involving hate crimes, according to the SPLC.

Many individuals argue however that hate crime laws specifically target Whites because there are no convictions in any state as of yet against a minority for committing hate speech against a white.

There are a number of federal laws against the various hate crimes but federal investigators only get involved in a proceeding if the state requests their help.

Leding says if he is re-elected, he intends to reintroduce the hate crime legislation in 2019, and that hopes the events in Charlottesville will encourage his colleagues to support it.

Unfortunately, this is likely going to appear in the other remaining states now as well. I'm in sure what people believe such a change is going to make.

Let's say hypothetically bigotry exists, and a person is sentenced for a crime. Do you think adding an additional five years to their sentence will magically erase the bigotry? Absolutely not.

It's literally a waste of money for the taxpayers to house someone this much longer, and it's an abusive Anti-White law, to begin with.